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DEC 7 mi 




BY 



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CHARLES W. JEROME. 



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Copyrighted by the 
Author and Designer, 1897. 



Pr6ss of 

Moffett Bros. & Co. 

Minneapolis. 



TO MY PASTOR, 

REV. DAVID N. BEACH, D. D., 

The Following Poem Is Gratefully Inscribed. 




PILLAR he, firm-set, of Doric 

mould. 
And as the Doric with most 

subtlety 
Conceals and yet reveals 

that delicacy 
Of line which styles more 

ornate or less bold 
Less well express, so we in 
him behold 
Both grace and strength blended in unity. 
Indeed, he seemeth fashioned equally. 
Like columns in that noblest style of old. 
For civic hall or for the house where thought 
Seeks high commune with the Creator's mind, 
And sees the spirit's last and sure abode. 
And, when his place no more on earth is sought; 
Then will he stand, by His own hand designed, 
A pillar in the temple of his God."^ 

1897. 
*Rev. Ill, 12. 



De Cemptatiom 



"For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points 
tempted like as we are, yet without s\u.''—IIeb. IV, 75. 




E is gone in the might of his 
manhood, the grace of his 
God ; 
Who could turn the whole 
world from its course by 
a word or a nod, 
Or can summon twelve le- 
gions of angels at will. 
He is gone 
To the desert; where prowl the wild beasts and the black 

chasms yawn, 
And the ledges of limestone look down on the wadys 

close-walled, 
And the ash-colored mountains loom lonely and savage 

and bald. 
He is gone to commune with his Father, ere yet He 
begins 



CjWJcr.^t. 



His vast labor of love to save men from their frailties and 

sins. 
'Tis the place where the daughter of Jephthah lamented 

her doom; 
Tis the place where the prophets foresaw, through its 

cloistering gloom, 
In some measure his grief and his seeming inglorious 

fate; 
Where his day-star, the second Elijah, waxed won- 

drously great. 

Forty days hath He fasted, and now He is famished 

and faint; 
Forty days hath He fought with temptation, resisted its 

taint; 
Forty days hath his spirit grown clear to discern right 

from wrong; 
And his soul from that striving hath risen triumphant 

and strong. 

I. 

Yet the subtle suggestion of evil, unseen by the 

sense. 

Sheathes a taunt in soft words of persuasion, seductive, 

intense: 

8 



"Now, if truly Thou be the Begotten of God, as Thou 

say'st, 
Know 'twas never his will that his Dearest should die in 

this waste. 
Thou remember'st of old how Elijah by ravens was fed; 
O Thou Son of Jehovah, command that these stones be 

made bread." 
But He answers with grace well befitting his sonship 

sublime, 
In the word that the Lord spake by Moses to them of old 

time: 
"It is written that not by bread only but by every word 
Shall man live, which proceeds from the mouth of his 

Maker and Lord." 
So our Shepherd and Star, by the force of one strong 

sinless thought. 
Brings the devil's first counsels, his craft and his wiles 

unto naught. 

II. 

Howe'er baffled, the prince of this world will not 
yield up his Prey: 
But prepares an enchantment; the desert hath vanished; 
and they 



Seem upborne on the wings of the morning in mystical 
flight, 

With a strange fascination, a shudder and thrill of de- 
light. 

Till they stand on a snow-encrowned mountain's empyr 
rean height. 

Far below them the valleys lie pensive and lovely 

and still, 
Fair with orchard and cornfield and meadow and river 

and rill: 
And He sees all the kingdoms of earth in a moment of 

time; 
From the fjords and the fens of the Norland to Seba's 

blest clime. 
O'er the populous East to the utmost confines of Cathay, 
And as far to the west as the scepter of Caesar holds 

sway. 

Yet wherever He looks, whatsoever enfixes his gaze, 
Howsoever remote, showeth near in the sun's morning 

rays, 

Azure harebells that lean from the ledges no foot hath 
e'er pressed; 

10 



Inaccessable crags where the bald-eagle buildeth her nest; 

Flashing torrents, white glaciers, wild cliffs the shy 
chamois loves best; 

Peaceful hamlets, whose thatches are bowered in the 
purpling vine; 

Pillared palaces carven with bay and acanthus divine; 

Busy ports on whose quays are unburdened the costliest 
bales; 

Tens of thousands of galleys and numberless shimmer- 
ing sails; 

Marble villas that gaze o'er the Mediteranean's blue, 

Whose proud lords come and go in their litters with rich 
retinue; 

The bold heathery headlands that rise from the weltering 
waves 

Of the misty Atlantic, which ever their brown bases 
laves; 

Stately cities, grim-gated, strong-bastioned, of ancient 
renown 

And vast wealth, from whose citadeled rocks massive 
fortresses frown; 

5\nd his own beloved land, the composite of every clime. 

Where are mingled the oak and the date-palm, the wal- 
nut and lime; 

11 



Halls hypostyle, incredibly grand, by the waves of the 
Nile, 

Where men pray to the sun and to calves and the foul 
crocodile; 

Druid forests, where mistletoe grows on the oaks gnarled 
and old. 

Whose mysterious depths, dense and dark, tragic secrets 
enfold; 

Lonely mountains, where magians guard the pure fire 
day and night; 

Columned temples, the glory of Greece, which gleam 
down from their height 

O'er the towns whence processions go up their twelve 
gods to implore; 

The fantastical fanes of far Ind, where the Brahmins 
adore, 

Labored piles, whose pagodas and pinnacles heavenward 
soar 

Though the misty-gold ether, and pierce e en the low- 
floating clouds: 

But, wherever men dwell. He sees tyranny, violence, 
crowds 

Of swart slaves lading ships, at the oars, heaving pon- 
derous stone; 

12 



Hears the shrieks of the victims of Moloch, the captive's 
low moan; 

Hears fair brides bid at auction, the orphan's faint deso- 
late cry, 

And the wail of the infants exposed on the mountains to 
die; 

And He thinks on these things and on woman's lament- 
able lot: 

And in pity He looks, till his tears fall indignant and hot. 

Then the tempter: *'Thou seest the things which thy 

Father's world mar! 
Than a worship so hopeless, than scenes so revolting, 

just war, 
In a cause so compelling and holy, were better by far. 

Son of David, arise; claim his throne; 'tis thy 
foreordained right: 
For thy hands shall the Lord teach to war and thy fingers 

to fight. 
At thy right hand thy Father shall strike in the day of 

his wrath 
Through earth's powerfullest kings. He shall strew with 
dead bodies his path. 
13 



With a rod shalt Thou shatter the vessel of clay into 
shards, 

Till thy foes be thy footstool. Then followeth calm af- 
terwards. 

Thou shalt cut off the cruel, and humble the haughty 
and proud; 

All shall turn to thy light: at thy Name every knee 

shall be bowed. 

Then the bow shall be broken, the chariot burned 

in the fire; 
War shall cease to the ends of the earth. Then shall 

come thy desire: 
And the heathen no more shall the house of thy Father 

profane; 
For in peace universal, eternal, secure shalt Thou reign; 
And the isles of the seas, as the prophet Isaiah foretold, 
They shsiW send thee rich tribute of jewels and silver 

and gold; 
And the stateliest ships of Phoenicia shall fetch from afar 
Judah's sons and his daughters, thy measureless glory 

to share. 

If so dazzling to Thee seem this vision, *tis no 

empty dream; 

14 



For the whole world shall bow to one scepter, one Sover- 
eign supreme: 

Else what else is thy lot but obscurity, poverty, 

shame, 

Ignominious death? If Messiah, make good then thy 
claim. 

All this power and the glory of them will I give 
unto Thee, 

For world's power and world's glory were long since de- 
livered to me. 

I will give to whomever I will, their bestowal is mine; 

Unto one who can give Thee such power are due honors 
divine: 

If Thou therefore wilt fall down and worship me, all shall 
be thine." 

But the Prince of Peace answers: whose baptism 
was from above 

With the seal of God's Spirit, his voice and the heaven- 
sent dove, 

"In the heart must I reign, not by fear nor brute force 
but by love. 

15 



Get thee hence, thou deceiver, who seekest my purpose 

to swerve; 
It is said: Thou shalt worship thy Lord, and Him only 

shalt serve.' " 

Lo! the great apparition dissolves: the blank ledges 

of stone, 
Grim and gaunt, again front Him; He is with his Father 

alone. 
So again does the Hero escape from the wicked one's 

toils; 
So again, for our race, for all time, his foul counsels He 

foils. 

III. 

Yet one avenue still to temptation remaineth: and 

there 
(His last hope) doth the devil, with art, fresh illusion 

prepare, 
If less powerful, more subtle, if milder, more specious by 

much; 
And through this, if he win, is Melchizedek's Heir in his 

clutch. 

'Tis a feast-day in Zion, the joyfullest fe^st of the 

year; 

16 



Glad with greetings of kindred, — such greetings as start 

the quick tear; 
For now all are gone up to the city from far and from 

near; 
E'en from alien shores, to the Temple which all hold so 

dear 
As the chosen abode of Jehovah, more fair than the 

morn.^ 

Thither also, in spirit, our Savior by Satan is borne; 

And is set on the loftiest spire of her great Royal Porch, 

That upsprings from its marvellous mazes of pillar and 
arch. 

He looks down on that Temple, resplendent with marble 
and gold, 

And abroad on Melchizedek's city, the Salem of old. 

In her girdle of gardens, with graces and charms mani- 
fold. 

As a beautiful bride she awaiteth the Bridegroom fore- 
told. 

Tis the last, that great day of the feast, and the 
gaily-dressed throngs 

*A substitute for the following reading, which was-r rejected be- 
cause the architectural probabilities appear to be against it: 
That most glorious pile which gilt pinnacles countless adorn. 

17 



Rend the air with their shouts and hosannas and jubilant 
songs. 

"Son of God," saith the tempter, "his Priest, if that 

truly Thou be, 
Leap from hence to the valley beneath; for 'tis written 

that He 
Shall give charge to his Angels concerning Thee; and in 

their hands, 
Only less than Divine, they shall bear Thee, by his clear 

commands, 
Lest thy footfThou shalt dash 'gainst a stone. 

Look! 

the thousands below! 
How they march round the walls, as their fathers round 

cursed Jericho; 
Or stream down with the priests to where Siloah's soft 

waters flow! 
When the feast-days are ended, to every land they wUl 

go. 
Thou hast heard how of^old on the hill-tops the watches 

were set; 

And, when first they had sighted the new moon; on 

Mount Olivet 

18 



Bright her beacon-fire blazed; and how crest unto crest 
spread the story 

Far and wide in an hour, and enkindled the land into 
glory: 

So to every coast they will bear this thy miracle's fame; 

And no heart can withstand Thee, no tongue but shall 
blazon thy Name. 

Hast considered the Rabbis? what burdens the^bind up- 
on men? 

And their precepts, how puerile? how false their tradi- 
tions, a fen 

Whose foul vapors envelope the Law? how they clutch 
wisdom's key; 

Enter not, and who would they but hinder? the blind bet- 
ter see. 

How all this Thou may'st change by one deed in the 
flash of an eye? 

And no voice can dispute thine authority, none make 
reply. 

'Tis the prince of the power of the air bids Thee 
cast Thyself down; 
All will glorify God, and rejoice thine high -priesthood 
to own." 

19 



But the Holy One answers: "Again it is written; 
'Thy Lord 
And thy God thou shalt tempt not.' Behold, this I read 
in his Word." 

Like the former so fadeth this vision, though this 

unto light; 
For the devil, thrice vanquished, at last for a season 

takes flight. 
The sore conflict is ended; the struggle, the agony 

past. 
And the angels of God wait upon Him. Peace cometh 

at last; ' - 

For though still that old serpent may harass and greatly 

annoy, * 

Nevermore hath he power among men to consume and 

destroy. 

As from Sinai came the Lawgiver, and strangely his 
face, 
From communion with God, the revealed, shone with 

glory and grace: 
So Christ comes in the power of the Spirit to Galilee 
now, 

20 



To teach men; yet unveiled is that Godlike ineffable 
brow. 



O, the mightiest souls have the strongest tempta- 
tions, perforce; 

And the saintliest spirits the subtlest seductions, yea, 
worse 

Than those grosser temptations which come to mankind 
every one. 

O, what joy could we lift from the heart of a 

brother that stone; 
Yet desire oft seems powerless, and oft each must wrestle 

alone — 
Not alone, not alone: if we pray with strong crying and 

tears, 
Then God's Spirit shall strive with our own; and at last, 

o'er the years, 
We shall look back in triumph and bless Him whose help 

now endears. 

Though we figure the devil a great angel fallen 

from grace: 

21 



Yet the the heart of each one is his tempter, each bosom 

the place 
Where the battle is fought, lost or won; while our Father 

looks down, 
And in pitying love seems to say: "Strength, my child; 

lo, thy crown!" 

1895. 



22 



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